10/22/2026
Dollar-Store 911 Call Leads to Louisiana Kidnapping Arrest; Investigators Also Examine Two Missing-Women Cases
Missing Lost And Trafficked
Lured Lost And Unsolved
ST. FRANCISVILLE, La.-A woman hiding in a West Feliciana Parish dollar-store bathroom called 911 on July 19, 2026, setting off the investigation that led deputies to arrest Thomas Morris, 43, on kidnapping-related charges, according to the West Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The woman told deputies she had met Morris in Montana earlier that month. She alleged that he brought her against her will to a home on Morris Road in St. Francisville, where she was not allowed to leave or use her phone. The sheriff’s office said Morris had taken her to the store to buy medicine and was waiting outside when she called for help. Deputies secured the woman and detained Morris.
Morris was booked on charges of second-degree kidnapping and false imprisonment. The parish jail’s booking information and subsequent reporting also list illegal possession of stolen fi****ms. He was held on a $500,000 bond, according to local reporting.
The arrest also brought renewed scrutiny to the disappearances of Madison Allen and Stephanie Hevia, both of whom investigators say knew Morris. Allen disappeared in late November 2023; Hevia was last known to be at the Morris Road property in 2025.
In September, the sheriff’s office said it had developed enough evidence to obtain a warrant and search Morris’s property for evidence related to the women’s disappearances, including possible human remains.
Sheriff’s Office release WAFB
After an eight-day search, investigators reported that they had found no human remains at the Morris Road property, but had collected items they believed could be relevant to the cases.
WAFB reported that Morris had been named prime suspect in the two disappearances. The sheriff’s office said the investigation was continuing.
Public reporting also documents a prior arrest. Unfiltered with Kiran reported that East Baton Rouge Parish records showed Morris was arrested in October 2024 on suspicion of domestic-abuse battery by strangulation involving a woman who lived with him.
The outlet reported that a protective order was later granted and dissolved in June 2025.
Morris’s arrest in the Montana woman’s case is separate from the investigations into Allen and Hevia’s disappearances.
To provide information to law enforcement regarding the multi-jurisdictional missing persons investigation for Stephanie Hevia and Madison Renee Allen, you should immediately contact the following agencies:
Baton Rouge Police Department:
Call (225) 389-2000.
Greater Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers:
Call the anonymous tip line at
(225) 344-7867 (344-STOP).
West Feliciana Parish Sheriff's Office: You can contact them directly, as they are a lead agency heavily involved in the property searches and case development.
Both women disappeared in Louisiana and are tied to a joint investigation involving a person of interest, Thomas Morris. Madison Allen was last seen in Zachary, Louisiana, in November 2023, and Stephanie Hevia (also cited in some reports as Stephanie Evia) went missing from St. Francisville, Louisiana, in August 2025.
